Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Exhibit
PREPARED TESTIMONY
OF
TRAVIS FENDERSON
A: My name is Travis Fenderson. I am Police Officer with the Los Angeles School Police
Department. My business address is 1330 West Pico Boulevard, Los Angeles, California, 90015.
Q: Where are you stationed within the Los Angeles Unified School District?
Q: How long have you been with the School Police Department?
A: I was a teacher with the Los Angeles Unified School District. I taught health to high
school students at Washington Preparatory School and Locke High School. I served as a health
teacher for three years. Prior to that, I worked in a Level 14 Psychiatric Facility, where I taught
various academic subjects to patients suffering from numerous psychological conditions. Several
patients were violent, many were self-mutilators, and all were taking medication under a
physician’s care.
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A: I spent eighteen weeks at the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Academy to earn my badge,
completing the same training that any County deputy sheriff is required to complete. While in
the Sheriff’s Academy, I received basic training within various law enforcement related
disciplines, including defensive tactics, basic knowledge of the penal codes, firearms training for
A: A School Police Officer is granted peace officer powers by the State of California. These
include the power to issue warrants, to arrest adults, to make traffic stops, and to respond to any
criminal or suspected criminal activity, regardless of its location, on or off of school property.
A: I am the only officer regularly assigned to Foshay. I spend from 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at
the campus or patrolling nearby. I generally do not patrol west of Western, but I patrol the
streets as far east as Vermont Avenue, as far north as 36th Street, and as far south as Martin
Luther King Jr. Boulevard. I assist the staff and faculty in controlling automobile and pedestrian
traffic at arrival and dismissal. I intervene in student fights and assist with students who may be
intoxicated or on drugs. Generally speaking, I am involved with all aspects of student safety. I
am engaged in Community Based Policing, which means that I am constantly trying to prevent
A: There is a lot of gang activity in the neighborhood around Foshay. Students come from
Manual Arts High School to loiter near our campus. Our students are frequently the targets of
robberies for their cell phones or iPods. There are drug dealers in the area. I am also concerned
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Q: Have there been any physical changes in the neighborhood around Foshay in recent
months?
A: Yes. Construction has begun on the Expo line. The K rails have been installed to fence
in the tracks and I can no longer walk across, or even see across, Exposition Boulevard at
Harvard Avenue.
A: This has seriously impacted my ability to monitor student activity and keep our students
from fighting or being robbed. Before the K rails were installed, if an incident occurred on the
far side of Exposition, I would step into the street, stop traffic, and immediately cross to the other
side. Today, students are aware that I cannot cross Exposition easily, and choose to have fights
and engage in other dangerous behavior on the far side of Exposition, far more often today than
before the construction began. With the K rails, it is difficult for me to even see the activity.
Even when I can see what is taking place, it is very difficult for me to arrive in time to stop it. I
must use the Harvard tunnel (when it is open), and this requires me to go underground, where I
lose visual contact with the situation. This gives the suspects ample time to flee before I can
arrive on the scene. I also must share the tunnel with the 300 to 400 students using it at
dismissal, which results in a situation where I must fight crowds of students in order to quickly
get to the other side. In addition, vendors that are forbidden from selling their goods on or near
campus have begun to gather near the tunnel. They do this because I am not able to ask them to
leave from across Exposition. If I need to run out of the tunnel quickly, I find that the vendors
are blocking the way. Furthermore, I do not have radio communication when I am in the tunnel,
so I am unaware of developments on the surface during the time that I am underground. The
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current construction has significantly affected my ability to keep our students from harm on the
Q: Have you noticed an increase in crime taking place on the far side of Exposition
A: Yes. On August 4, for instance, a few Foshay students were robbed at gunpoint.
The suspects that robbed them have been identified as members of a local street gang whose
neighborhood is on the other side of Exposition. It is known that they come to this side of
Exposition on bikes to commit crime because they can ride against traffic, slip across the tracks
at Denker, and disappear into the neighborhood before police can go up to Western to turn
around. This is just one example of how crime has increased in this area since Expo began
Q: Are there any other areas near campus where you have particular concerns about
student safety?
A: Yes. Many students cross Exposition at Western Avenue to access the shops at the
southwest corner of the intersection. There is a donut shop and a hamburger restaurant, both of
which cater to the students at Foshay. Because they are such popular student hangouts, there are
frequently fights or other crimes committed at these establishments. I am called frequently to the
shops at Western.
A: That intersection causes some difficulty for students. The middle school students do not
always obey traffic laws. In particular, they do not seem to understand the left hand signal
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A: Yes. I have had to call ambulances to help with student emergencies on several
occasions. One instance I recall is when a boy choked another boy. I had to call an ambulance
to bring the student to the hospital. The ambulances take a variety of streets but are generally
Q: Are you familiar with the plans for Exposition light rail train in the vicinity of
A: Yes.
A: Yes.
A: My experience to date with the closure of Harvard Avenue leaves me with grave concern
about my ability to ensure a safe environment for students when the Expo light rail is operating.
As I discussed above, my inability to cross Exposition and remain in sight of students or suspects
on the far side of Exposition Boulevard has reduced my capacity to effectively stop and deter
crime in that location. When the train is operating, I will still be unable to cross Exposition in
this location without needing to use the tunnel. As I discussed above, entering the tunnel cuts me
off from radio communication and from visual contact with the scene of the crime or incident. If
the tunnel is closed, I will have to travel to Western or Denker, by foot or by car, and this will
I am also concerned about students using the intersection of Western and Exposition. I
am concerned that students will try to beat the train, or that they will misunderstand the signals
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A: No. Crime would skyrocket unless there were 24-hour security around the tunnel. And
the school does not have the resources for that kind of expanded coverage of the tunnel.
ability to see crime and maintain visual contact with suspects. I would also be able to remain in
radio contact while on the overpass. Ideally, we could keep Harvard Boulevard open so that I
could cross Exposition freely, either by elevating the train or putting it below ground. If that is
not possible, having the overpass at least provides me with constant visual connection to the
entire area. I would still have to share the overpass with hundreds of students during peak hours,
The overpass would have to be enclosed to ensure that students would not jump off of it
Q: If there were elevators on such an overcrossing, would they require monitoring and
supervision?
A: Yes. In order to keep crime from occurring in the elevators, they would need access
control or monitoring.
A: Yes, it does.